Best Diablo 2 Necromancer Class Build in Ladder Season 5

It's no secret that when it comes to AoE (Area of Effect) damage, no class can rival the Necromancer, and that remains true in Diablo 2 Resurrection Ladder Season 5. But when paired with the correct build, it truly becomes the king of AoE, and if you want to see what this powerful class offers you, then keep reading. 

Below, we'll be breaking down our pick for the best Necromancer build in D2R Ladder Season 5, the Poison Nova Necromancer. We'll discuss everything from the class's strengths and weaknesses to the best items and skills it can employ and much more. 

Update on 29 December 2023: We've updated the best Necromancer build in Diablo 2 Resurrected Ladder Season 5.

Is The Necromancer A Good Class in D2R Ladder Season 5?

The Necromancer is considered one of the overpowered classes in the game. With its fast-paced playstyle, it can overwhelm enemies in an onslaught of attacks, and using its ability to pump out incredible amounts of Poison, Fire, and Physical Area of Effect (AoE) Damage within a single Skill Rotation makes it almost impossible to fend off. Couple all this with the fact that it is dealing this damage over a wide area while on the move. The Necromancer class is a monster evaporator. 

That said, no class is perfect, and the Necromancer does suffer from being a difficult class to master with a steep learning curb. It's also quite weak early game, only coming into its own mid-late game, and it's not the best at dealing tons of damage on boss fights. However, we can set up the optimal build for the class to negate some of these issues and create a Necromancer that will be feared in D2R Ladder Season 4. 

Best Diablo 2 Resurrected Necromancer Build: Poison Nova Necromancer

Our pick for the best Necromancer build in Diablo 2 Ladder Season 5 is the Poison Nova build, which excels in one thing, dealing tons of damage over a massive area. It does this by using Poison Nova and Corpse Explosion, which all dish out Poison, Fire, and Physical damage, all in one rotation, while also using Sunder Charms to break enemy resistance down and give you an in to deal massive amounts of damage. 

Amplify Damage, Lower Resist, Conviction Aura, and Sunder Charms, lower the resistance to almost any immunity possible. And combined with Poison Nova and Corpse Explosion, which deal their types of damage, means that any creature regardless of their immunity to unique sources of damage will be eating the dirt.  

This build might be tough to get the hang of at first, but once mastered, nearly nothing can stop you once you're on the battlefield. Below we've broken down in more detail, the specific gear, sockets, and skills for the Poison Nova Necromancer build in Diablo 2 Ladder Season 5. 

Poison Nova Necromancer Gear and Sockets

Poison Nova Necromancer Skills

Which Mercenary To Use With Diablo 2 Poison Nova Necromancer Build

Similarly to other builds in Diablo 2 Resurrection, the best mercenary recommended is the Act 2 Desert mercenary hired from Greiz. This Mercenary comes with an Aura ability and uses the Jab attack at base. The Aura is called Might and provides you with a damage buff that can help deal with Poison immune enemies, while the Jab can be used to poke damage to stray enemies. 

The Mercenary should also use the Infinity war pike which reduces enemy resistance, letting you deal even more damage. And it comes with the Conviction Aura, which drastically boosts your Corpse Explosion damage. All in all, with this setup, the Act 2 Desert mercenary is vital to your survival in Diablo 2 Resurrection Ladder Season 5. 

It can be tough to keep the Mercenary alive until you have the bare essentials recommended in this guide, so we recommend getting that sorted first. Once you do, you can either drag Healing Potions onto the portrait or feed them directly from your Belt to keep them alive. 

If you lose a Mercenary in battle, you can resurrect them by speaking with any of the Mercenary NPCs in each Act. But you should remember that this costs more money each time you do it, with a cap of 50,000 Gold. 

Alternative Diablo 2 Necromancer Builds in D2R Ladder S5

Last but not least, some of you may be quite familiar with the strengths of this Necromancer build, and are perhaps looking to try another. If that's the case, then there are a few alternate Necromancer builds you can try which we've listed below with the help of the densely informative Maxroll website. 

• Summoner Necromancer
• Bone Spear Necromancer
• Corpse Explosion Necromancer

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